The Amazon blurb pretty much says it all:
In early 1996, journalist and author Lipsky (Absolutely American) joined then-34-year-old David Foster Wallace on the last leg of his tour for Infinite Jest (Wallace's breakout novel) for a Rolling Stone interview that would never be published. Here, he presents the transcript of that interview, a rollicking dialogue that Lipsky sets up with a few brief but revealing essays, one of which touches upon Wallace's 2008 suicide and the reaction of those close to him (including his sister and his good friend Jonathan Franzen). Over the course of their five day road trip, Wallace discusses everything from teaching to his stay in a mental hospital to television to modern poetry to love and, of course, writing. Ironically, given Wallace's repeated concern that Lipsky would end up with an incomplete or misleading portrait, the format produces the kind of tangible, immediate, honest sense of its subject that a formal biography might labor for. Even as they capture a very earthbound encounter, full of common road-trip detours, Wallace's voice and insight have an eerie impact not entirely related to his tragic death; as Lipsky notes, Wallace "was such a natural writer he could talk in prose." Among the repetitions, ellipses, and fumbling that make Wallace's patter so compellingly real are observations as elegant and insightful as his essays. Prescient, funny, earnest, and honest, this lost conversation is far from an opportunistic piece of literary ephemera, but a candid and fascinating glimpse into a uniquely brilliant and very troubled writer.
Best news of all? It comes out today! I'll finish the book I'm reading on my way to work and buy "Although of Course..." during lunch.
In early 1996, journalist and author Lipsky (Absolutely American) joined then-34-year-old David Foster Wallace on the last leg of his tour for Infinite Jest (Wallace's breakout novel) for a Rolling Stone interview that would never be published. Here, he presents the transcript of that interview, a rollicking dialogue that Lipsky sets up with a few brief but revealing essays, one of which touches upon Wallace's 2008 suicide and the reaction of those close to him (including his sister and his good friend Jonathan Franzen). Over the course of their five day road trip, Wallace discusses everything from teaching to his stay in a mental hospital to television to modern poetry to love and, of course, writing. Ironically, given Wallace's repeated concern that Lipsky would end up with an incomplete or misleading portrait, the format produces the kind of tangible, immediate, honest sense of its subject that a formal biography might labor for. Even as they capture a very earthbound encounter, full of common road-trip detours, Wallace's voice and insight have an eerie impact not entirely related to his tragic death; as Lipsky notes, Wallace "was such a natural writer he could talk in prose." Among the repetitions, ellipses, and fumbling that make Wallace's patter so compellingly real are observations as elegant and insightful as his essays. Prescient, funny, earnest, and honest, this lost conversation is far from an opportunistic piece of literary ephemera, but a candid and fascinating glimpse into a uniquely brilliant and very troubled writer.
Best news of all? It comes out today! I'll finish the book I'm reading on my way to work and buy "Although of Course..." during lunch.
This next one doesn't come out until the end of September or November, depending on the website you read about it on.
Before I give you the blurb, can I just say I can't believe there's going to be an Incredible Change-Bots Two? That's almost too good of news for me to think I deserve. I read the first Change-Bot comic as my reward for finishing Against the Day and it was just such a delight, it just tickled me from start to finish. That there's going to be another book, that's just thrilling.
The internet says:
Three years ago, an alien race of shape-changing robots came to Earth, fired ray guns at each other for a while, then gave up and flew away. But they left behind one thing: Shootertron, the cunning leader of the evil Fantasticons! Fortunately for Earth, Shootertron's memory is a little fuzzy. Unfortunately for Earth, the rest of the Incredible Change-Bots seem to be on their way back...
It's all-new action, drama, and comedy as Shootertron struggles to find an identity on Earth and the rest of the Change-Bots struggle to accomplish much of anything. Hilarious and gleefully childlike, Jeffrey Brown's Incredible Change-Bots Two is a nostalgic tribute not only to Saturday morning cartoons but also to Jeffrey Brown's Incredible Change-Bots One.
The internet says:
Three years ago, an alien race of shape-changing robots came to Earth, fired ray guns at each other for a while, then gave up and flew away. But they left behind one thing: Shootertron, the cunning leader of the evil Fantasticons! Fortunately for Earth, Shootertron's memory is a little fuzzy. Unfortunately for Earth, the rest of the Incredible Change-Bots seem to be on their way back...
It's all-new action, drama, and comedy as Shootertron struggles to find an identity on Earth and the rest of the Change-Bots struggle to accomplish much of anything. Hilarious and gleefully childlike, Jeffrey Brown's Incredible Change-Bots Two is a nostalgic tribute not only to Saturday morning cartoons but also to Jeffrey Brown's Incredible Change-Bots One.
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